Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2: The full-screen smartphone

The biggest and most obvious trend in smartphones right now is that the attempt to eliminate framework, or the bezel, that encircles a phone’s display. The objective is to produce a feeling that you are only holding a display in mind, and there is nothing else to distract you from what is being displayed on that display. Established players (Samsung and LG) and beginners (Essential) alike are all trying to accomplish that objective. Apple is expected to announce new iPhone that eliminates the border around the display this week.

One look at features of Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2

Xiaomi is also playing this sport and it really had a head start over a lot of the industry as it established the Mi Mix year. Its enormous 6.44-inch display was pushed to the very corners of their phone’s framework, and the entire design of this device was driven by this goal to eliminate the boundary entirely.

That drive compelled Xiaomi to create some interesting design decisions, like forgoing a earpiece to get a fancy piezoelectric version and moving the camera down to the right from the phone’s framework. Not all of these changes were great: the earpiece was much inferior to a speaker and despite the attempts to shrink the phone’s down framework, the Mi Mix’s huge screen supposed it was still a giant device. Xiaomi was likely aware of those issues when it branded the phone because of “concept” device, even though it was available for sale in the organization’s home market of China.

Now Xiaomi has declared the Mi Mix 2, which rectifies a number of those issues of this original and drops that the concept label. This brand new model is smaller and more approachable than the first Mix, and it will become available anyplace Xiaomi sells phones (which, regrettably, doesn’t yet include the US).

Like its predecessor, the Mi Mix two’s standout feature is your edge-to-edge display. This time it’s a more manageable 5.99-inches with an 18:9 aspect ratio, similar to that which Samsung and LG are using in their high-end phones this season. That usually means that the Mi Mix two is smaller compared to the first version, and therefore more practical to utilize. It basically sits in between S8 Plus and Samsung’s Galaxy S8 in terms of size.

It has rounded corners and also only the scantest of frames over and on the sides of it. The edge under the display is bigger, as it houses the front camera (which is currently better disguised thanks to some “super black” lens coating), a notification light, along with other electronics required to power the panel. The display itself isn’t too vibrant, bright, or hi-res as Samsung’s OLED displays, but it’s still quite nice to check at and fine in every day usage.

The top of the phone is a earpiece speaker tucked into a tiny slit – Xiaomi has ditched the elaborate however ultimately worse piezoelectric speaker in the first Mi Mix. The Mi Mix 2 doesn’t have a proximity detector to switch off the display if you hold it up to your ear to get a telephone, but utilizes an ultrasonic system to accomplish the identical effect. The speaker and ultrasonic proximity attribute worked in my tests, although the Mi Mix 2 does not sound good in forecasts as an S8.

Inside is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor and either 64, 128, or 256GB of storage. If you believe that you need more power, a Special Edition of this phone features 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Although the Mix 2 isn’t going to be sold in the usa, it will encourage 43 network groups and operates on LTE networks in America. I’ve been using it on T-Mobile and also have experienced LTE signal and VoLTE support basically everywhere I’ve anticipated to.

The back of this Mix two is ceramic, which is conducive to an aluminum framework. Fit and finish are all on par with the finest that Apple, Samsung, and LG need to provide — the Mix two is legitimately a premium device. The Special Edition model takes that a step farther: it does have a ceramic back, however, a ceramic uni-body, which Xiaomi claims is a first on almost any phone. These two versions are serious fingerprint magnets.

Camera of Mi Mix 2

Despite the fact that it comes with a list of premium features, you will find things that the Mi Mix 2 does not have. It lacks any type of water resistance; it comes with a regular, single-lens camera instead of a; and it does not have a headphone jack or wireless charging. The 12-megapixel camera comes with an optically stabilized f/2.0 lens also contains large pixels, therefore it is capable of taking great photos. It will not keep up with the cameras from Google, Apple, or Samsung, but it’s certainly good enough.

Xiaomi’s software is polarizing, also. MIUI 9 is quick, and can have some features here and there, but it almost feels like a different system than Android phones, which most purists might not like.

But despite the shortcomings, the Mi Mix two packs lots of wow factor, and it’s the phone that comes closest to reaching the “full display” goal this season. It does not have the crutch of a cut out to the camera like the Essential Phone, nor does it rely to hide the sides of the phone like Samsung. It’s only a giant display crammed into a surprisingly manageably-sized phone.

Now if only we could get it in the usa.